A new era has begun in collaborative working with the arrival of \nMicrosoft SharePoint. This feature-rich platform is available as \non-premises deployment and via cloud services. MS SharePoint has many \ncutting-edge features for collaboration, document sharing, and content \nmanagement which can help organizations change their traditional ways of\n sharing files and exchanging public folders into a more robust \nplatform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the intervention of MS SharePoint, one can create intranet \nportals for information sharing, enterprise search, and content \nmanagement in the organization. In addition, one can create custom views\n and combine MS SharePoint with MS Office for more effective content \nmanagement and document sharing abilities. SharePoint can be used to \nprovide extranet portals and public websites. It also improves \ncoordination between employees and reduces collaboration costs \nconsiderably. Below are the key points to remember when considering \nsharepoint migration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Five key points to remember when planning SharePoint Migration<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While moving data from file servers to SharePoint, the organizations have many things to keep in mind such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It may not be a wise decision if the organization decides to migrate \nto SharePoint just because all other organizations are doing so. Before \nmigration, advantages and limitations of SharePoint should be studied \nvery well. Check first if this new platform is going to benefit the \norganization. To know more about SharePoint, one can gather information \nfrom Microsoft sites, expert articles, case studies e.t.c. It would be a\n great idea to consult or work with a SharePoint experts for a positive \noutcome when planning for your next migration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Decide on what the organization intents to achieve by moving to SharePoint. The infrastructure costs, return on investment, and future maintenance costs are some of the important factors that need to be considered before the migration. Decide on what suits best for the functioning of the organization\u2014on-premises deployment or cloud service. It\u2019s not necessary to move all the data to SharePoint. Ideally data that is required for collaboration only need to be migrated. Analyze the data and decide on how much of it needs to be moved to the SharePoint, and plan the SharePoint infrastructure\/subscription accordingly. Unused and unwanted data can be archived or deleted before migration (according to the policy of the organization). Then, find out a strategy for the migration. Plan what to migrate, when to migrate, and how to migrate. Usually for large scale migrations, professional tools are employed. So learn about some tools and find the best one for your organization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Organizations migrating to SharePoint adopt various strategies. The \nfirst approach is to move the data in small chunks. The most required \ndata will be moved first. Also, employees who are more open to changes \nwill be allowed to use SharePoint in the beginning. Gradually all the \ndata will be moved (in accordance with the requirement), and SharePoint \nwill be exposed to all employees. In a second approach, SharePoint will \nbe implemented, but the organization will be waiting for the employees \nto familiarize themselves with SharePoint. In this case, the \norganization will be shifting to SharePoint very slowly. Another method \nis to perform a quick data migration to SharePoint retaining the file \nservers and public folders in read-only mode. After editing the data \nusers will have to save it in the SharePoint. So users will be compelled\n to move to SharePoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SharePoint is totally a different platform with its own architecture, permission structure, some limits and boundaries. It does not support all file names and file types. There are limitations to file sizes too. Many illegal characters and end strings are not allowed in file names and URLs. Some file types (file extensions) are blocked by SharePoint. Naturally, data migration cannot be smooth unless you change all these. During the migration server down time or connectivity issues should also be anticipated. Performing the migration with limited resources and doing it without obstructing the office working hours are also challenges. Many professional migration solutions helps you conduct pre-migration analysis so as to foresee the SharePoint compatibility issues. Tools help you deal with low resources and working hour related issues. And at last, employees adaptation to SharePoint environment is also an issue for organizations migrating to SharePoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SharePoint requires good collaboration habits and disciplined \napproach from users. So it is suggested to follow a well-planned \nmethodology for everything that is performed in SharePoint. This will \nmake SharePoint more clean and organized. Many administrators \nunderestimate the potential of SharePoint. An organization is moving to \nSharePoint not just to replace file shares or public folders, but to \ntake full advantage of its advanced collaboration and content management\n facilities. So, it is important to give users training so that they \nwill be able to use the platform to its full potential. Absence of \nSharePoint awareness will lead to total mess in the SharePoint \nenvironment over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conclusively, MS SharePoint is such an attractive collaboration platform that many organizations rush to adopt. When one stops using the old platform and embraces a new one, many unexpected challenges may arise. In other to reduce unforeseen situations, careful planning and use of migration solutions can help organizations fix most of such issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A new era has begun in collaborative working with the arrival of Microsoft SharePoint. This feature-rich platform is available as on-premises deployment and via cloud services. MS SharePoint has many cutting-edge features for collaboration, document sharing, and content management which can help organizations change their traditional ways of sharing files and exchanging public folders into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sharepoint-server"],"yoast_head":"\n